View full sizeAdam Holsten/The Jersey JournalWest New York mayoral candidate Dr. Felix Roque and his Together We Can running mate Assemblywoman Caridad Rodriguez break bread with the Political Insider.

At a Lunch with Augie session, I sat at the River View Diner in North Bergen with Dr. Felix Roque and Assemblywoman Caridad Rodriguez, candidates on the Together We Can anti-administration ticket in next month's West New York election.

To oversimplify this session, I could almost think about the pair as Hispanic members within the Rebel Alliance -- dedicated to defeating the town's Emperor Palpatine, aka Mayor Sal Vega, and his storm troopers within the Death Star, which local folks call Town Hall.

Roque and Rodriguez make a more familiar connection calling Vega and some of his more ardent followers examples for what some in town experienced under the Fidel Castro dictatorship where the use of neighborhood rapid response teams terrified those who were considered disloyal or not in step with the regime. The doctor said he and Vega came to the United States about the same time and the mayor should be familiar with the comparison.

C'mon, isn't this a bit over the top? We're talking about Hudson County politics here. Sure, Darth "Bud" Vader is a card-carrying member of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, which explains the dark side of politics -- but using iron-fisted tactics of a tyrant seems a bit of hyperbole.

Giving an example, Roque said a 58th Street pizza parlor owner put up a poster in his shop window supporting the Together Team. He said it took only minutes before Vega his storm troopers demanded the placard be removed, if not, the shaken owner was allegedly threatened with a visit by a town inspector.

How many times was your car attacked, I asked Roque? Obviously the good doctor was not talking about a sturdy Millennium Falcon or even a Lamda-class shuttle when he uttered a long list of damages, dozens of tires slashed, each of the vehicle's windows smashed at least twice each, and the occasional graffiti which I'm sure did not include the peace symbol. He's been bucking the administration for about four years now, so either he's dedicated or a glutton for punishment.

And why is an assemblywoman running for a town commission seat? Was she advised by someone -- former West New York mayor and now U.S. Rep. Albio Sires? Is it because there's a good chance she will not be a state legislator should, as expected, West New York move out of the 33rd District and into the 32nd after legislative redistricting is announced this weekend?

Rodriguez said it was her decision because a municipal post allows her to do more for her hometown whose residents, in particular the elderly, suffer from escalating property taxes and poor municipal services.

Should circumstance call upon her to choose between a town commission and state Assembly seat, Rodriguez said, she promised her town running mates she would become a town official.

Can they run a town government? Roque, who is also a military officer, said he was in charge of a hospital and if he can do that he has the skills to govern. Yeah, but I suggested that a hospital doesn't have potholes. He laughed.

The pair said they have been knocking on doors and have enough finances to run an election. They just don't like how the administration is allegedly running their campaign.

"The dead will vote and they have been registering people who live out of town," Roque said. When asked, he said he did make his concerns known to the county.

Lunch would be short because the two candidates work.

Before leaving, I told them that there's a good chance I may have lunch with the mayor of West New York and wished them luck.

My camera droid and I paid for our lunches.

AND A TIME FOR EVERY PURPOSE
As predicted, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a petition and was granted permission by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for a second 30 days, ending May 4, to decide whether to request an appeal, before the entire panel, of U.S. District Judge Jose Linares' ruling that knocked off extortion charges against brothers Louis and Ronald Manzo. The Manzos still face bribery and mail fraud charges.

The U.S. Attorney's Offices confirmed the additional time. Spokeswoman Rebekah Carmichael issued an excerpt from the petition:

"... The District of New Jersey has submitted all its materials to the Department of Justice in Washington and is now awaiting a decision from the Office of the Solicitor General, whose authorization is required for the filing of any petitions for rehearing en banc (full court)..."

And here is the most interesting snippet: "Part of that review involves soliciting the views of different United States Attorney's Offices and Departments throughout the country, which is a time-consuming process ..."

There are many ways to go here to comment. Let's just say it sounds like the quarterback is scrambling.

Linares found that the Manzos -- and probably former Jersey City councilman James "Jimmy" King, former Housing Authority commissioner Lori Serrano, and former City Council candidate LaVern Webb-Washington -- were mistakenly charged in a massive federal corruption sting under a provision of the Hobbs Act. The judge decided the Manzos could not be charged "under the color of official right" because they were not public officials at the time the alleged illegal acts were committed. They were accused of taking bribes from a phony developer, an FBI informant.

Louis Manzo was a mayoral candidate in the 2009 Jersey City election. He has argued that federal investigators ignored other possible defendants and went after "candidates" to assist ex-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie's gubernatorial aspirations, an accusation denied by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
The state redistricting panel will vote Sunday on the new legislative district maps but they have known the results at least since yesterday. Look for the new district lines in tomorrow's newspapers.

What will happen in Hudson County? The big change will be in the 33rd District where Union City Mayor Brian Stack is the state senator. West New York and Guttenberg will leave the 33rd and go to North Bergen Mayor and 32nd District Sen. Nick Sacco.

Stack gets 90,000 Jersey City voters in his district, an obvious plan by the Hudson County Democratic Organization and Trenton allies to unseat the Union City powertician in two years.

We're talking a real possibility of civil war -- as you have been reading here for weeks.

It seems Republican 40th District Sen. Kevin O'Toole, a member of the New Jersey Apportionment Commission and also labor attorney for Union City, did not have Stack's back. As one GOP member suggested, O'Toole, may have been worried about the Democrats' 11th impartial member on the 10-member redistricting commission. He also may have been too busy trying to protect himself from the possibility of going up against 34th District Sen. Nia Gill.

I'd hate to be one of those members of the GOP in the same room with Gov. Chris Christie after word got out about the remapping results.

As for Stack -- the Jersey City municipal election now has a new and very influential player. This will not be the only political arena in the Union City mayor plans to influence in the future. The county is an open house for mayhem.

POLITICAL INSIDER

INSIDER NOTE

-- Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop held a fund-raiser Tuesday at Puccini's. It seemed to be a police affair. There were about 60 people at an affair where tickets cost $250. Who knows who paid. What is certain is that Fulop told the crowd that he has about $400,000 in the war chest. Sources tell me he is probably closer to $500,000. It will be tough to reach the $3 million-plus mark that Mayor Jerramiah Healy hit in the last city election. That's Jerramiah with two "Rs" and not the recent in-the-news son with one "R" and with what seems to be an ability to do Charlie Sheen impressions.

-- Glad to see attorney Libero Marotta is back needling elected officials. He made an appearance at Thursday's Board of Freeholders meeting. Libero recently lost his wife and it's good to see him bounce back.

Marotta was a big time North Hudson political legal eagle who helped engineer one of the biggest election upsets in Hudson when the old Project 70 gang ousted legendary political boss Sen. Bill Musto from City Hall here Bill ruled as mayor

Musto brought new blood into the organization, including teenagers Robert Menendez, Abe Antun and other young men, to win back the throne. Ultimately, it was Libero who forced a referendum on a proposed city purchase of what turned out to be a mob-owned building that brought the Musto empire down.

-- My Final Four pick: UCONN.

-- Video Update: Some people have complained that a video of my lunch with Roque and Rodriguez on the Hudson County page of NJ.com is having audio problems. Hopefully this will be corrected at the start of the new week and it will be posted again. I'm planning on future lunches with other Hudson political personalities.